After losing four rounds in succession, R. Vaishali’s recovery and resurgence have made the chess world take note of her mental strength in the ongoing FIDE Women’s Candidates 2024.
In Toronto, Vaishali completed a hat-trick of victories with the conquest of a winless, World No. 8 Anna Muzychuk to emerge as the only winner in the 12th round.
Even as the title inched closer to the two Chinese contenders, leader Tan Zhongyi and second-placed Lei Tingjie, K. Humpy dashed the title hope of the Russian fans by holding top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina. Tan was extremely lucky to escape with a draw against the lowest seed Nurgyul Salimova and Lei let Kateryna Lagno off the hook.
When the play resumes after a day’s rest, the two remaining rounds could well see the Chinese contenders going for broke for the lone qualifying spot for the World championship title match.
Meanwhile, Vaishali is busy gaining admiration with a display of her strong character on the big stage.
From the brink of losing five games on the trot, Vaishali was lucky to beat Salimova and stunned World No. 3 Goryachkina who declined to draw by repetition of moves in her search for an important win.
On Thursday, it was the turn of Anna to face Vaishali’s wrath who played solidly with the black pieces.
Anna’s aggressive play which helped her promote a central pawn to the seventh rank in the middle game made no impression on Vaishali. The Indian Grandmaster had her defence in place and went on to consistently improve her position. Soon the game reached an endgame involving Vaishali’s bishop and Anna’s knight besides pawns.
Vaishali lets Anna clean up her kingside pawns in order to promote her queenside-pawn and bring back the black queen on the board. Though Vaishali’s victory appeared a foregone conclusion, Anna resigned after 57 moves when she was going to lose her advanced pawn following a queen-check.
In an equal game where the players traded blows on the queenside, Humpy let a golden opportunity slip against Goryachkina by missing the precise continuation on the 23rd move. Soon a draw was agreed upon following a repetition of moves.
There was a time during the day when it appeared Tan would lose her lead to teammate Lei. While Salimova had Tan on the ropes, Lei held a definite edge over Lagno. In the end, Tan escaped with a draw and Lei settled for one.
Tan, at the receiving end for the better part of her game against Salimova, was extremely lucky to draw after the Bulgarian went for a bishop-trade instead of capturing a queenside pawn with her knight.
The simplification helped Tan who regrouped and forced a draw in a rook-and-pawn endgame.
After dominating Lagno for 25 moves, Lei surprisingly gave up her centrally-planted knight and an advanced kingside pawn for a bishop. She realized her mistake and soon drew by perpetual checks.
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